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Fifth Freedom, 1977-01-01

Fifth Freedom, 1977-01-01

5th Freedom Publication of the Mattachine Society of the Niagara Frontier JANUARY 1977 ELECTION SYNOPSIS What exactly can we as gays , expect from our newly elected politicians? Well, donTt expect any earth-shattering gay rights bills these next couple of years. •Neither Carter nor Mondale have made ', any definate promises to gays ( before or after the presiden- tial election. On the issue i of gay people serving in the armed forces, Carter last ] stated that he had reserva- < tions concerning certain ! "sensitive positions". The < President-elect also said he : would sign a federal gay ] rights bill if it were passed, but as it now stands the chances are slim for federal legislation passing any gay rights bill. Portland, Oregon's Northwest Gay Review publisher, Lanny Swerdlow, reported that Mr. Mondale's reply to the issue of discrimination by the federal government is "a difficult question. As a gen' eral proposition, I am against ' discrimination on an irrational basis. There are,however, positions of tight security ' and matters that involve some discrimination as to types of jobs, and it gets into the question of Whether they are disclosed gays or nondisclosed ' gays." Mondale reportedly ' added that the Carter=Mondale administration would want to make changes, but he did not say what kind of changes were planned. ' In the U.S. Senate races, several pro-gay senators won re-election, including Senators Muskie (ME), Kennedy (MA), and Humphrey (MIN). There was good news for New York State, as Daniel Patrick Moynihan defeated Senator James L. Buckley. Only weeks before the election, Moynihan came out with a strong progay position in a letter to a board member of the National Gay Task Force. Arizona gave gay people something to look forward to this year: Senator Sam Steiger, a known homophobe, lost his seat to Dennis De Concini, a liberal Democrat? who had the support of the staters gay organizations. liberal Democrat, Howard Metzenbaum, barely defeated conservative Rep, Senator Robert Taft. Local Ohio gay organizations were reaffirmed of Metzenbaumts pro-gay stand before the election.- There was bad news elsewhere, though; upset race resulted in Senator John Tunney losing to Hayakawa. . Just prior to the election, Hayakawa stated that he is "deeply, deeply prejudiced against homosexuality. v Lately, however, Hayakawa appears to be softening his anti-gay position due to gay pressure from San Francisco gay activists. Looking at the election overall, we see the number of pro-gay senators increased slightly. As the 95th Congress convenes this month, 10 senators, or ten per cent of the upper house, will be on the record with pro-gay positions. In the U.S. House of Representatives, pro-gay votes increased only slightly. California will be sending its largest-ever pro-gay rights contingent to Congress, with almost all of the sixteen representing the San Francisco Bay Area and the Los Angeles region. New York, unfortunately, received no new pro-gay members in our delegation to the U.S. House; hence, only one pro-gay delegate was re-elected, ■ Syracuse Gays Respond A Thanksgiving Eve service that was celebrated in Syracuse, New York was ostensibly open to all churches, synagogues and religious groups in the area except the Gay Community Ministries of Syracuse* The G.C.M,, therefor, retaliated by sending eight- . een gay men, lesbians and friends to leaflet the event. They wore lavender armbands and the pink triangle, symbols of the world's indifference to the oppression and extermination of gay people. Crowd reactions ranged from surprise to disgust, and to an occassional "right-on". Our gay brothers and sisters endured a series of speeches that were so full of hypocrisy they were obscene; Bishop Cunningham said, "You who have freedom in your lives: what do you do with that freedom? ( Let our personal answer and our national response be justice and peace for all." Another Rabbi Levy said, "But let us also pause to reflect that our celebration cannot be. complete until all Americans are free politically, nomically; free from secrecy and fear." Then the huge gatheringrecited, "we hereby respond and promise to participate in the struggle for total liberation by providing food and shelter for the poor, release the captives, sight release to the captives,sight to the blind and liberty to the oppressed," Syracuse gays took a risk by entering the unpredictable crowd, but their strong sense of gay pride through gay visibility surmounted their fears. Will we respond the same when a similar situation presents itself in Buffalo? BUREAU OF PRISONS BANS GAY PUBLICATIONS The National Gay Task Force learned today of a decision by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons not to permit gay publications, including NGTF's newsletter, It's Time, in Federal correctional facilities. NGTF learned of the decision through the office of Congressman Ed Koch (D-NY), who had appealed to the Director of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, Norman Carlson, to allow It's Time and other gay publications to be received by gay inmates. The appeal followed refusal by the Warden of the Federal facility at Leavenworth, Kansas, to permit receipt of gay publications there. In a letter to Congressman Koch dated December 10, Carlson said, "The reason for this decision focused exclusively on the fact that homosexuality is a major problem in correctional institutions. As you will recall, the recent investigation into eight murders at Lewisburg revealed that five had homosexual overtones. Unfortunately, Lewisburg is not atypical of the problems in most institutions. We agree with the philosophy of limiting an offender's access to literature or publications only in cases where there is a clearly overriding institutional interest. In this case we believe that such is the case as publications advocating or supporting homosexuality exacerbate a major problem. Publications which call attention or identify inmates who accept homosexuality can, in our opinion, be detrimental to their safety as well as to the safety of others. For that reason we have concluded that such publications should be prohibited." Responding to the decision, Ginny Vida, NGTF's media director and editor of It's Time, said, "We are shocked at this outrageous denial of the rights of gay prisoners. Carlson's explanation is just a ruse; they're trying to persuade us that they're protecting gays by depriving them of their constitutional rights." The National Gay Task Force is exploring, with Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the possibility of taking the case to court, The ican Civil Liberties Union has already filed a class action suit on behalf of prisoners which includes this issue, but no action is expected until this spring. Another possibility is that President-elect Carter will appoint someone to replace Carlson who will rescind the policy now established. Benefits for New York Gays New York, one of several states that has outlawed discrimination on the basis of marital status, now says that eligibility for "family memberships" and discounts must now be extended to unmarried households, including gay couples, according to interpretations by the state's Division of Human Rights. The Metropolitan Museum, Associated Press reports, was the first membership organization in the state to adopt the new nondiscriminatory policy. Family membership is now open to any two people living at the same address. (Empty Closet) in this issue We introduce the premier issue of the new sth Freedom with our feature,"Who are the Homosexuals?", by Lyle Glazer, on page 4. The first of a series of excerpts, entitled "Allen Ginsberg on:" appears on page 5. Our monthly features are: Editorial 2 From Our Mailbag 2 Comment 2 Short Shots 3 Book Review . , 4 Center News 6

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Transcript

5th Freedom Publication of the Mattachine Society of the Niagara Frontier JANUARY 1977 ELECTION SYNOPSIS What exactly can we as gays , expect from our newly elected politicians? Well, donTt expect any earth-shattering gay rights bills these next couple of years. •Neither Carter nor Mondale have made ', any definate promises to gays ( before or after the presiden- tial election. On the issue i of gay people serving in the armed forces, Carter last ] stated that he had reserva- < tions concerning certain ! "sensitive positions". The < President-elect also said he : would sign a federal gay ] rights bill if it were passed, but as it now stands the chances are slim for federal legislation passing any gay rights bill. Portland, Oregon's Northwest Gay Review publisher, Lanny Swerdlow, reported that Mr. Mondale's reply to the issue of discrimination by the federal government is "a difficult question. As a gen' eral proposition, I am against ' discrimination on an irrational basis. There are,however, positions of tight security ' and matters that involve some discrimination as to types of jobs, and it gets into the question of Whether they are disclosed gays or nondisclosed ' gays." Mondale reportedly ' added that the Carter=Mondale administration would want to make changes, but he did not say what kind of changes were planned. ' In the U.S. Senate races, several pro-gay senators won re-election, including Senators Muskie (ME), Kennedy (MA), and Humphrey (MIN). There was good news for New York State, as Daniel Patrick Moynihan defeated Senator James L. Buckley. Only weeks before the election, Moynihan came out with a strong progay position in a letter to a board member of the National Gay Task Force. Arizona gave gay people something to look forward to this year: Senator Sam Steiger, a known homophobe, lost his seat to Dennis De Concini, a liberal Democrat? who had the support of the staters gay organizations. liberal Democrat, Howard Metzenbaum, barely defeated conservative Rep, Senator Robert Taft. Local Ohio gay organizations were reaffirmed of Metzenbaumts pro-gay stand before the election.- There was bad news elsewhere, though; upset race resulted in Senator John Tunney losing to Hayakawa. . Just prior to the election, Hayakawa stated that he is "deeply, deeply prejudiced against homosexuality. v Lately, however, Hayakawa appears to be softening his anti-gay position due to gay pressure from San Francisco gay activists. Looking at the election overall, we see the number of pro-gay senators increased slightly. As the 95th Congress convenes this month, 10 senators, or ten per cent of the upper house, will be on the record with pro-gay positions. In the U.S. House of Representatives, pro-gay votes increased only slightly. California will be sending its largest-ever pro-gay rights contingent to Congress, with almost all of the sixteen representing the San Francisco Bay Area and the Los Angeles region. New York, unfortunately, received no new pro-gay members in our delegation to the U.S. House; hence, only one pro-gay delegate was re-elected, ■ Syracuse Gays Respond A Thanksgiving Eve service that was celebrated in Syracuse, New York was ostensibly open to all churches, synagogues and religious groups in the area except the Gay Community Ministries of Syracuse* The G.C.M,, therefor, retaliated by sending eight- . een gay men, lesbians and friends to leaflet the event. They wore lavender armbands and the pink triangle, symbols of the world's indifference to the oppression and extermination of gay people. Crowd reactions ranged from surprise to disgust, and to an occassional "right-on". Our gay brothers and sisters endured a series of speeches that were so full of hypocrisy they were obscene; Bishop Cunningham said, "You who have freedom in your lives: what do you do with that freedom? ( Let our personal answer and our national response be justice and peace for all." Another Rabbi Levy said, "But let us also pause to reflect that our celebration cannot be. complete until all Americans are free politically, nomically; free from secrecy and fear." Then the huge gatheringrecited, "we hereby respond and promise to participate in the struggle for total liberation by providing food and shelter for the poor, release the captives, sight release to the captives,sight to the blind and liberty to the oppressed," Syracuse gays took a risk by entering the unpredictable crowd, but their strong sense of gay pride through gay visibility surmounted their fears. Will we respond the same when a similar situation presents itself in Buffalo? BUREAU OF PRISONS BANS GAY PUBLICATIONS The National Gay Task Force learned today of a decision by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons not to permit gay publications, including NGTF's newsletter, It's Time, in Federal correctional facilities. NGTF learned of the decision through the office of Congressman Ed Koch (D-NY), who had appealed to the Director of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, Norman Carlson, to allow It's Time and other gay publications to be received by gay inmates. The appeal followed refusal by the Warden of the Federal facility at Leavenworth, Kansas, to permit receipt of gay publications there. In a letter to Congressman Koch dated December 10, Carlson said, "The reason for this decision focused exclusively on the fact that homosexuality is a major problem in correctional institutions. As you will recall, the recent investigation into eight murders at Lewisburg revealed that five had homosexual overtones. Unfortunately, Lewisburg is not atypical of the problems in most institutions. We agree with the philosophy of limiting an offender's access to literature or publications only in cases where there is a clearly overriding institutional interest. In this case we believe that such is the case as publications advocating or supporting homosexuality exacerbate a major problem. Publications which call attention or identify inmates who accept homosexuality can, in our opinion, be detrimental to their safety as well as to the safety of others. For that reason we have concluded that such publications should be prohibited." Responding to the decision, Ginny Vida, NGTF's media director and editor of It's Time, said, "We are shocked at this outrageous denial of the rights of gay prisoners. Carlson's explanation is just a ruse; they're trying to persuade us that they're protecting gays by depriving them of their constitutional rights." The National Gay Task Force is exploring, with Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the possibility of taking the case to court, The ican Civil Liberties Union has already filed a class action suit on behalf of prisoners which includes this issue, but no action is expected until this spring. Another possibility is that President-elect Carter will appoint someone to replace Carlson who will rescind the policy now established. Benefits for New York Gays New York, one of several states that has outlawed discrimination on the basis of marital status, now says that eligibility for "family memberships" and discounts must now be extended to unmarried households, including gay couples, according to interpretations by the state's Division of Human Rights. The Metropolitan Museum, Associated Press reports, was the first membership organization in the state to adopt the new nondiscriminatory policy. Family membership is now open to any two people living at the same address. (Empty Closet) in this issue We introduce the premier issue of the new sth Freedom with our feature,"Who are the Homosexuals?", by Lyle Glazer, on page 4. The first of a series of excerpts, entitled "Allen Ginsberg on:" appears on page 5. Our monthly features are: Editorial 2 From Our Mailbag 2 Comment 2 Short Shots 3 Book Review . , 4 Center News 6